None so Blind
by BlackEyedGirl
Summary: An injury puts Mal out of commission and forces him to realise that sometimes you have to trust that even when you can't crawl, there's those that will carry you. MalSimon hurt comfort.
1. Chapter 1

Title: None so blind (which, as shall become apparent, is really corny, but I suck at titles)  
Pairings: Mal/Simon. This is SLASH, people.  
Spoilers: All of the show, not the comics or movie. Set a few months after OiS, and Inara has left.  
Characters: All crew (minus Inara obviously)  
Rating: T? No worse than the show I think  
Summary: An injury puts Mal out of commission and forces him to realise that sometimes you have to trust that even when you can't crawl, there's those that will carry you. Mal/Simon hurt comfort. Part 1 of 10?  
Archive: Just ask.

AN1: The slash here (at least of the sex-having part) is slow-building. The beginning chapters especially have a lot of crew involvement, but it does get there. Provided my checking gets done, the whole thing will be up before the movie release. I'm just tying bits together and deciding where to cut off chapters - hence the indeterminate size. Also, first Firefly fic, so be nice and review please!

* * *

'What happened?' 

_Blackness. A clatter of familiar voices, barely audible over the ringing in his ears and the burning ache down his left side._

'Job went south.'

_Still blackness. Couldn't open his eyes._

'I can see that, Jayne. Can you be a little more specific!'

_This voice was sharp, and instantly recognisable. Simon, in full doctor mode. Why couldn't he see?_

'Safe went off. Booby-trapped. Cap'n pushed Zoë'n me away, he got hit hardest.'

'I thought we had the codes,' Simon said.

'So did we.'

_Zoe. That made three. Where were the rest?_

'What happened out there!'

'Is the Captain gonna be okay?'

_Wash. Kaylee sounding terrified._

'One down, four to go.'

_River. Back to crazy-talk it seemed. Or maybe the pain had addled his brain so much it just sounded that way._

'Could everyone be quiet please? I need to work.'

'Seems like you could use a little space too, son.'

'Oh God.'

_Book. Simon again. What was wrong with his eyes? And why had everyone shut up all of a sudden? It hit then. He screamed._

'Mal!'

'Captain.'

'It's okay, just lie back down.'

'Please, Mal!'

'Captain, I need you to lie back down.'

_Simon's voice the only calm one left. Not calm enough though. A slight shake in it even still. He fought the hands that struggled to hold him down._

'Captain Reynolds! Lie down before I sedate you. I have expended far too much energy on keeping you whole to let you hurt yourself like this.' The voice had steel in it now. 'I have reattached ears, mended gunshot wounds, knife wounds, and on one memorable occasion, a sword wound. _I _am too stubborn to let you make yourself worse, and _you_ are too stubborn to let your fear win out. I _know_ you aren't a coward, captain. I've seen you worse than this.'

His lips felt cracked, and his throat burned to use it. 'Can't see.'

'I know. I'll fix it, don't worry. It just might take a while,' Simon answered, soft-voiced again.

'How long?'

'I don't know. It could be a few weeks. But I will fix it. You have my word, Captain. Now lie back, and go to sleep.'

_The sharp prick in his arm, and then real blackness._

* * *

'He gonna live?' That shouldn't be the kind of the thing a man woke up to. Especially not when coupled to the fact that he still couldn't open his eyes. Whether it was the doctor's tight bandaging, or the burns, he decided not to speculate. So Mal chose not to wake up. If he wasn't opening his eyes anyway, no need to let Simon and Jayne know that he could hear them. 

'He'll be fine.'

'This is me, doc, not Kaylee or Wash. If he's hurt bad, you can say.'

'I wouldn't lie. He'll be fine.'

'Sure about that, doc? Cause he looks just about as far from fine as I've saw him.'

'I was a _trauma_ surgeon. It's not the worst I've seen.'

Jayne didn't pick up on the "was" in Simon's sentence the way Mal did, and went on regardless. 'You fixed them up?'

Simon paused this time. 'Yes. Of course, I had slightly better facilities then.'

'We gonna have a problem?'

'This would be a lot easier if we still had access to Inara's contacts.'

'Want me to give her a wave?'

'I don't know that the Captain would appreciate that.' Simon was right about that one.

'We got enough time to be worry about that fèi huà?'

'Jayne, I understand that you're worried about the Captain, but I am taking the best care of him possible.'

'Damnit, doc, I know that. All I'm askin is whether or not we need to start looking for another hospital job.'

Simon sighed. 'It might be an idea. I need a mender that they're only going to have in an Ophthalmology department of a large hospital. With that, I could bring the recovery time down to three weeks, and guarantee the injuries will recover properly. Without it…'

'Optha… that's eyes, right?'

Mal waited for the slight on Jayne's intelligence that didn't come. 'Right.'

'You want me to go tell Zoë?'

'If you don't mind. One thing first. How did this happen?'

'Told you what happened.'

'I know, I meant, this. The burns should be worse.'

'Worse? How much worse do you want him to be?'

'I mean… typically if there's an explosion…'

'How many explosions have you seen, doc?'

'Before or after getting on this ship?' Simon gave a long-suffering sigh. 'Fine. Say, _for example_, you were cooking and something jumped up. Nine times out of ten, your arms will be severely burnt before your eyes are touched. You throw your arms up to protect your eyes. The Captain's burns aren't consistent with that. It's as if his body was turned away from it, but his head wasn't. That's backwards.'

Jayne shuffled his feet and mumbled.

'Excuse me?' Simon asked.

'That's what happened. He was turned round to push me'n Zoë away cause it was making a noise. He looked over at it to see if it was worth riskin it.'

'He _knew_ it would explode!'

'Dunno if you noticed, doc, but we're a little short on cash right now.' Jayne griped.

'But…' Simon sputtered.

'Gonna go tell Zoë now.' Without any further explanation, Jayne left the room, banging the door as he left.

Mal could hear Simon's light breathing over his head. He was attached to all manner of beeping machines, but Simon took his wrist and felt the pulse anyway. 'Of _course _you heard the ticking and didn't leave. Why would you?' Simon's voice was soft and resigned. He let go of Mal's wrist and walked across the room. After a few minutes, Mal began to wonder if the doctor was even still there. Before he could work up the enthusiasm to ask, there was a knock at the door.

'We're flyin?' Simon asked. He was still in the room then.

'I think we've taught you bad habits,' Wash said. He must be the intruder. 'Your speech used to have a lot more gs.'

'Yes, when compared to my loss of gs, the new killing people thing I do seems mostly insignificant.'

'Come on, Simon, how many people have you killed, honestly?'

'Three.' Simon answered flatly.

'Well… remind me not to ask you rhetorical questions again. He okay?'

'Why does nobody on this boat trust my judgment?'

'It's not that,' Wash said. 'It's just… Mal shouldn't be hurt this bad. Of course, I'd rather it not be me either. Or Zoë of course. And Kaylee should never be… On further reflection I'd much rather Jayne be the hurt one.'

Simon laughed reluctantly. 'I just wish…'

'... you were on Osiris?'

'Not Osiris exactly. Anywhere with proper medical facilities.'

'Infirmary not homey enough for you?'

'Bizarrely, I actually do have quite an affection for this place. But when something like this happens…'

'You need a hospital.'

'Yes.'

'We're on it, doc. You just worry about keeping him well enough to get there.'

'If there's anything I can do…'

'We'll yell.'

More silence, interrupted only by Simon occasionally moving around the infirmary. He imagined he felt eyes on him, but he couldn't ask Simon that without revealing that he was awake. And sounding as crazy as the doc's moon-brain sister on a bad day. So he stayed quiet.

Zoë came in, said a few words to Simon, and then hovered. Again he had that 'being watched' feeling, but at least this time he was fairly sure he was right. He though she had left, but Zoë was good at stealth, so it was impossible to be sure.

'Is the Captain awake?' That was the Preacher.

'If he is, he's not speaking to me.'

'Do you mind if I…?'

'I don't. The Captain might.'

'I'll pray quietly then.' And sure enough, Book stood by Mal's bedside whispering words that were vaguely reassuring even if Mal couldn't make them out.

He drifted off for a while, listening to Book's prayers and Simon's soft tapping at the computer. It was Kaylee's sniffing by his bedside that brought him back to the world.

'He's really gonna be okay?' Kaylee's voice had tears in it.

Simon made a quiet noise of frustration, but his voice was reassuring. 'He'll be fine, Kaylee. I promised, remember?'

'You weren't just trying to cheer me up?'

'Kaylee…' Simon's voice was as close as Kaylee's now.

When she spoke again, it was muffled. She must be crying into Simon's shoulder. 'I just… I hate…'

'I know. But he'll be fine. Up and bossing you about again in no time,' Simon said.

'Shouldn't he be awake now?'

'The body takes time to recover. If he's not awake in a few hours, then we'll start to be concerned.'

'Dunno, doc, maybe you want to take advantage of this time you're not being bossed around?' Mal said.

'Captain!' Kaylee squealed. He felt a small hand work its way into his. 'You woke up!'

'Expecting different?' Mal asked.

'Of course not. We were all just so worried. Oh! I should tell everyone else. I'll be right back.' Her hand drew out of his, and he could hear her patter out of the infirmary towards the kitchen.

Simon was busying himself with the machines. There was a furtive air in the silence. Mal suspected the doctor was trying to build up the courage to tell him. Just this once, he would make it easy on him. 'It's gonna be a while, isn't it? Before you can…' He gestured towards the bandages round his eyes, wincing as he pulled at the burns on his arm.

Simon's sigh was part relief and part sadness. 'Yes. It's going to be a while.'

* * *

AN2: Told you the name was corny. So, wanna see the rest? 


	2. Chapter 2

AN1: Fast upload of chapters (and two at a time!) I know, but I want this up before the BDM. Reviews are still really nice though, so please tell me what you liked/didn't like. Blue Eyed Dragon Girl, corrupted-innocentand Vampbarbie, thanks so much for reviews!

* * *

Mal jerked awake. Simon was shaking his arm, none too gently. 'Captain!'

'What the...? Doc, I was trying to sleep!'

'It's four pm.'

'Don't make much difference in the black now, does it?'

Simon made a noise which could have been amusement but seemed more like annoyance. 'Of course. Regardless of that, I need you to wake up a moment.'

'You wanna look at my eyes?' Mal muttered blearily, still not quite awake.

'Not right now,' Simon answered awkwardly. 'We... and by we I mean Jayne, Zoë and I... have found a job. Another hospital. We've got buyers for the medicine, plans to get in and out...'

'Do I need to come with you?'

'What?'

'Since our last hospital job ended with a bounty hunter sneaking on board my boat looking for little sis, I gotta figure the reason we're pulling another is cause you need something for me we ain't got. Am I getting warm?'

'I need to liberate a particular type of mender,' Simon admitted. 'But you don't need to come with us, it's fairly portable.'

'Like the one you used for my ear?'

'Like that, yes. More complicated, unfortunately. Hence the need for the hospital. But it should help establish how long your recuperation is likely to be.'

'So we don't _need_ it to fix me up?'

'I...'

'You don't know.'

'No, I don't. I'm sorry, Captain, but the eye is so delicate and...'

Mal interrupted Simon before he gave himself a panic attack. 'No one's accusing you of anything, doc. If you say you need the machine, you need the machine. Now, do I have any say in this plan, or has Zoë launched some kind of coup?'

'No coup, sir,' Zoë answered from the doorway.

'Consider it delegation,' Wash observed from somewhere near his wife.

Mal jerked. 'How many people are in this room!'

'Including you?' Wash said. 'Five.'

'Me, Simon, Zoë, you... who else?' Mal asked.

'Me,' a quiet voice answered from the side of the room.

'You've been pretty quiet there, mei mei,' he said to River. 'No words of wisdom on your brother's job?'

'The melody is seldom the problem. The repeating counter-melody is what causes the problem. Especially when it returns.' She looked around at the effect this had on them. 'Be careful on the way back.'

'See that, right there?' Mal said. 'That's why no one believes that you're as crazy as you talk.'

She laughed. 'One of us will get a shock.'

That was eerie. Moving on. 'So, what's the plan?'

'Kaylee...'

'Doc, no good dangerous plan ever began with Kaylee. I thought Zoë'n Jayne were doing this.'

'And me,' Simon reminded him.

'Well that's a given, though don't make the mistake of thinkin I'm thrilled about that part either. Why're you bringing Kaylee into it?'

'Because our plan depends on someone looking like they know how to take a machine apart.'

'And then...?'

'Captain, I'm not sure we have time to...'

'Doctor, which one of us is in charge of this boat? I'd thank you to carefully consider our titles before you answer.'

'I'm sorry.' Simon sighed. 'I'll be brief: we've procured credentials of sorts which should get us into the hospital. The security staff and reception will let us in because we have the right passes, and we'll be bringing a pretty girl with a toolbox. There is no reason for them to suspect us. I find the machine and let Kaylee tweak with it for an hour or so while Jayne and I take some drugs. Kaylee explains that the machine is broken and needs outside maintenance. We leave with the drugs and the mender. Deliver the drugs to our buyer, take the payment, and then I get to see how much damage you did to your eyes.'

'Seems a lot of that plan's dependant on hospital folk buying Kaylee as one of their mechanics,' Mal said.

'People always believe Kaylee. The same way they're always scared of Jayne.'

'Bet your gorram ass they are,' Jayne added in satisfaction.

Mal successfully fought off the urge to yell at someone for not telling him that Jayne had entered. 'So why is Jayne going on this little adventure? He doesn't exactly inspire confidence in core folk.'

'No, but he'll match their picture of an engineer. We need someone who looks like they have lots of muscle and not much brain.'

'Hey!'

'I said "looks like",' Simon said innocently. 'And we're talking about the core, remember? You don't care what we pansy-ass pretty-boys think of your attributes.' There was a certain relish in the way Simon repeated that last phrase that made Mal think Simon had just scored a point in the Simon-Jayne battle of wits. Wits being present on at least one side of the battle anyway.

Now, however, was not the time. 'So what are Zoë and Wash doing?'

'I'm flying getaway shuttle, naturally,' Wash answered.

'And Zoë is providing cover fire,' Simon finished.

'Cover fire for _what_?' Mal exclaimed. 'So far as I hear, there shouldn't be a need for firing of any kind.'

'No, there shouldn't. But I've been on this ship long enough to know that it's going to end with bullets no matter how well we plan. So that's it. Book and River are staying on the ship, but Book will be up front talking to us, so that's just you and River here.'

'Wait just one minute...'

'I'm sorry, Captain, we really have to go. We'll all be fine.' Mal might not have heard them all coming in, but the sound of the empty room was all too clear. Damn boy had been a hairs-breadth from patronising him! And then had the gall to just up and leave! He had a good mind to... sit here like a peaceful invalid until his crew came back to rescue him. He was never good at patience.

Simon burst into the room only a few minutes after he had left it so calmly.

'Back so soon, doc?' Mal quipped.

'How did you know it was... never mind.' Simon stood over the cot, and Mal felt cool metal placed into his hand. Simon's soft hand wrapped itself around Mal's calloused one, curving both their fingers round what he had recognised instantly as a pistol.

'Simon?' Mal said, quietly. 'Not that I don't appreciate your conviction in my prowess with weaponry, but I dunno how much use I'll be with this right now.'

Simon's fingers clenched around Mal's tightly as he pulled both of their arms up to point vaguely at the doorway. His voice was tense. 'If anyone comes up here and doesn't say they're part of the crew, aim at the door and shoot.'

'Doc, I'm not shooting at what I can't see. I could hit you! Or Kaylee, or River or...'

'I'll tell everyone to call before they come walking past.' Mal pulled his hands from Simon's. 'No, Captain, listen! If anyone else gets here, they'll have got past my trained assassin baby sister. You'll only get one shot. If it makes you feel better, aim for the gut rather than the head, and if it's one of us I'll stitch them back up.'

'Thought everyone was going to be fine?'

'Everyone is.' Mal couldn't decide whether to be relieved or disgusted that Simon had reverted to his patronising/reassuring voice.

'You didn't sound so sure a minute ago.'

'I'm a worrier, Captain, what can I do?' Simon laughed lightly, inviting Mal to share the joke at his expense. Mal couldn't laugh though. Simon's hands were reflexively running underneath the edges of the bandages on the captain's eyes and down his shoulders, reassuring himself that, in this, at least, his work had went as planned.

'It's a good plan, doc. You'll be fine,' Mal found himself adopting Simon's calming tone.

'Thank you.' With one last tug of the bandages, Simon was gone.

Mal sat to wait. The Shepherd checked in on the comm. occasionally, and assured him that River was fine at her post. River, too, felt the need to have one of her strange conversations with him every half-hour or so. Even with that, he was developing a whole new understanding of why Wash and Simon glared daggers at them all when they returned even half an hour late. He ran through the plan in his head. He had been right, it was a good plan. A similar one to Ariel, but without the chance of River being spotted, so probably about a tenth as dangerous. And his crew had all had a hand in it, so between them they surely would have spotted any major flaws...

He was running through the possible trouble spots for the fourth time when he heard the shouting. Mal half-heartedly raised the gun, focussing it more seriously when the Preacher didn't call down to tell him that it was his crew coming back.

Simon screamed, 'Don't shoot!' a half-second before he came pelting into the infirmary.

'Doc, you were about this close to...' he trailed off when the machines he was connected to all started beeping at once. 'Is that...?'

'I disconnected them. I need to get you to the other side of the room.'

Mal tried to roll himself off the cot without aggravating any of his wounds. 'What happened?'

Simon pulled him carefully but unceremoniously off the bed and hauled him to the makeshift cot at the side of the room. 'No time for this right now. Zoë's been shot.'


	3. Chapter 3

Zoë's been shot. Those words echoed strangely around Mal's head, as if something was wrong about them he couldn't quite pin down. Perhaps it was the knowledge that, despite all his dark thoughts, Zoë had got herself hurt around people that weren't him. After years of believing that he was her bad-luck charm, it was no wonder his world felt sideways.

Alternately of couse, it could be the way that he was sidelined in the bustle of a busy infirmary, with no way of knowing how badly his second in command was hurt, and the only answer he seemed about to receive was 'Not right now, Captain.' You wouldn't think it was possible to say Captain politely _and_ dismissively, but Simon Tam was a genius after all.

Wash was protesting loudly about something, and Mal suspected that all his captainy authority wasn't going to get him listened to this time. Or, to be more accurate, he wasn't able to throw Wash against the wall right now.

Simon's voice raised above Wash's. 'Wash, if you don't get us in the air right now, it isn't going to matter what I do for Zoë. And everyone needs to leave while I operate anyway. Unless someone has a strong desire to further delay me getting this bullet out of her chest?'

The room emptied, but he could hear the whispers outside the room – urgent and panicked.

Inside there was just Simon's soft footfalls as he prepared himself for surgery.

There was a soft cough at the door. 'You need a nurse.'

'River,' Simon responded gratefully. 'Can you hold these for me?'

For a long while Mal did nothing but wonder how the Tam siblings could do something as complicated as surgery with barely a word spoken between them. Finally, Simon sighed in satisfaction, 'There we go.'

'Good strong roots,' River agreed, or at least it appeared to be agreement. 'Shoots will come back clean and sturdy.'

'Yes,' Simon answered happily. Was it possible that both the Tam's were insane? River's particular brand of insanity would make anyone else seem perfectly sane. And there was the way that... Or maybe he was overreacting and Simon had just gotten better at making her tangents seem like sense.

Simon's voice went echoey, and Mal hoped for his own sake that the doctor was using the comm., else it seemed at least two of his senses were broke, not one.

'Wash?' Simon called. Well that was one problem down. 'If we're flying okay, your wife is out of surgery.'

'She's gonna be okay?'

'She's fine. The bullet missed everything important. Miraculously so, in fact, I've never seen a bullet to the chest miss like that.'

'Can I see her?' Wash asked.

'Of course. That was nice flying, by the way, I hardly felt a thing.'

Wash sounded surprised at the praise. 'It was nothing, doc. Thanks, though. I'm gonna put her on auto and come down in a few minutes, okay?'

'Okay.' Simon answered. He walked over to Mal's side. 'Your turn.'

'Simon...'

Simon halted. 'I'm sorry about before. I was just in such a hurry to get Zoë on the table. I should have taken the time to explain, but she was bleeding out too fast. She's fine though. Or she will be. It was lucky.'

'Guess you were right about the bullets flying,' Mal observed.

'This is one of the times I'd rather be wrong,' Simon said. 'The hospital part went fine, actually, did we say? It was the buyers that were... they'd rather have something for nothing I suppose.'

'Buyers get like that,' Mal said in a non-committal tone.

'I know probably should have spotted that, but...'

Mal interrupted him. 'You did fine, doc. Sometimes the buyer's a snake, you just gotta factor that in. Which you did, by bringing in Zoë. And then talked that husband of hers down from crashing us all into some moon. Then finished it off by stitching her back up after she got hit.' Mal was surprised to note to himself that this was at least as much about reassuring Simon as it was shutting off the doctor's ramblings. 'Did as well as I do most days. That was not, by the way, an invitation to contemplate stealing my ship. But you did good. What did I tell you? Any day we're still flying's shiny, okay?'

'Right...' Simon said. 'Anyway, Captain, I'm sorry, I think you were going to say something before?'

'I was gonna ask if you were sure you wanted to play with your new toy right now.'

'My new... the mender?'

'That's the one,' Mal said.

'Why not?'

'It's been a long day, people were shooting at you, Wash was yelling, people were shooting at you, Jayne probably did something Jayne-like at some point during the heist, people were shooting at you...'

'I'm fine, Captain.'

'You sure? Wouldn't want you slipping and accidentally mending my eyelids together.'

'How many times do... I was a _trauma_ surgeon, Captain, my hands don't shake.'

'They teach you to hold them steady in doctoring-school?'

Simon laughed. 'They _train_ us to hold them steady. I know Kaylee thinks I'm ... a robot did she say? But it's useful.'

'No coffee jitters?'

'No jitters when the people you care about are under the knife.' Again the little laugh, 'It's almost as if Professor Tagami was _preparing_ me for life on this ship. No shakes, even when your Captain is half burnt up, or missing an ear, or bleeding to death all over you.'

'That's a mighty useful skill, doc.'

'It is.' Simon rested the back of his hand against Mal's lower arm. 'See?' Mal felt the gentle brush of knuckles against his own warm skin. And true enough, Simon's hand was perfectly steady.

'That's mighty reassuring.'

'I'm glad,' Mal suspected Simon was teasing him. 'Now, I need to put you under.'

'_Need_? Couldn't just give me the pain pills?'

'Sorry, Captain, I need to examine your retina without you trying to move it. I won't keep you under general anaesthetic any longer than necessary.'

Mal sighed and waved an arm as close to Simon's direction as he dared.

Simon grabbed the flapping arm and Mal felt the sharp jab before he was pulled under.

* * *

This time the voice he woke to was Simon's. He could tell the doctor was smiling because it warms every part of his speech. Zoë and Wash were making pleased background noises, but it was Simon's happiness he chose to wake up to. 'What's the racket?' 

'Captain, how are you feeling?' Mal thought for a second that he shouldn't have spoken. Simon's voice had went doctory again, and he wondered what was wrong with him to have provoked that. But he focussed, and picked up the smile under the words all over again.

'Still can't see...' Mal said

'Captain, I explained that it...'

'Would be a while, I know. So what did your doohickey tell you?'

And now he knew Simon was happy because he kept quiet about the mangling of medical English. 'I did a first pass with the mender, and the prognosis seems good.'

'First pass?'

'It's going to take a longer course of treatment than simply reattaching an ear.'

'_Simply?_ Tell you what doc, next time we'll cut of your ear and see how simple it is.'

'All I meant,' Simon said, 'was that reattaching an ear is _comparatively_ much simpler than mending all the different tissues in the eye. As I told you, the bandages will be on for at least three weeks.'

'On the plus point, sir,' Wash noted from his wife's bedside. 'You'll have lots of time to work on your pirate impression. You seem to have one too many patches but...' Wash ducked as a pillow was sent, surprisingly accurately, at his head. 'It's sad when pain drives a man to bitterness. Attacking his loved ones...' Wash trailed off mournfully.

'Come on, husband,' Zoë said. 'Think it's time we left the Captain alone.'

'Hey!' Simon protested from behind a yawn.

'Somehow, doctor, I suspect you won't be much company,' Zoë said. 'There's something about a heist, a fire fight and two rounds of surgery that just seem to take it out of you.'

'Young men today,' Wash tutted. 'No stamina. Now me'n Zoë...'

'_Bed_,' she ordered.

When he was relatively sure the two had left, Mal asked, 'Should she be moving?'

'Your surgery took quite a while, Captain. So, no, she shouldn't, but it won't kill her. I'm going to lie down though, if you don't mind. Do you need anything?'

'Uh...if you wouldn't mind...' Mal started in embarrassment.

Simon pattered across the room to the abandoned projectile and returned to Mal's side. 'Pillow. Lift your head.' He placed the pillow carefully under Mal's shoulders.

As Simon took his hands away, Mal caught one. He pressed his palm against it. 'Huh. It's shaking now.'

Simon drew the hand away quickly. 'I must have been wrong then, the tiredness did catch up with me.'

'Guess that must be it.'

* * *

AN2: Still like? 


	4. Chapter 4

AN1: Thanks for the reviews, you guys are great! So here's the next three chapters. Warning - part six is pure fluff, and if you have no sweet-tooth, feel free to skip it, you won't miss grand plot-stuff! I just like it...

* * *

'Captain?' Simon's hands were on Mal's face before he'd finished the question. 

Mal flinched away. 'Damnit, doc, give me some warning when you come in!'

'I'm sorry,' Simon answered apologetically. 'I haven't left since we were speaking - I thought you knew I was here.'

'Well next time, don't. Been a week since I was able to tell whether you were lurking around or not, I thought you would'a learned by now not to sneak up.'

'Again, Captain, I'm sorry,' Simon said placatingly. In the past few days, they'd had more than a few of these spats, and he seemed to be trying to head this one off at the pass.

'So what do you want?' Mal asked with ill-grace.

'I want to have a look at your eyes to see if the mender did its job. Then I can work out when is the best time to use it again. I'll need to put you under, but I want to look at the skin around your eyes first, would you rather I left the injection until after?'

'Rather you left the injection altogether. I swear, the number of times you stick me with that needle anybody'd get the idea you _like_ me being knocked out.'

'Well I can't do that,' Simon answered, ignoring the accusation. 'But if you don't try and open your eyes, I can leave the shot until afterwards. Is that alright?'

'Shiny,' he answered sarcastically.

'Okay, I'm taking off the bandage. Remember to keep your eyes shut, there's no telling what damage you could do to them trying to focus now. Don't clench them either, just don't move,' Simon said.

'Think I got it, doc.'

'Good,' Simon answered distractedly. He unpinned the bandage and carefully unwound it, nudging Mal's head upwards to get it off the back.

Mal laid his head back down, and Simon began the examination. He could feel Simon's gaze raking over the raw skin. He was really getting sick of just laying here, day after day, while doc poked him with needles and _looked_ at him. He hadn't been joking about Simon enjoying it - boy had to be feeling a mite smug that, for once, Mal was in his infirmary being nice and quiet. Course, even when he wasn't knocked out, there wasn't exactly an abundance of conversation. The crew tended to assume he was sleeping, though he had passed that point days ago, and he could hardly just start talking himself. He'd be ten minutes in and realise he was the only one there.

Simon seemed to be taking his time over this. What more could he possibly need to see? The bandages didn't cover that much skin anyway. Not that he felt like that when they were on. The things kinda gave him flashbacks to Niska, stumbling around blindfolded but just _knowing_ something was about to jump at him. Simon's examinations weren't exactly torture by electrocution, although as he had now progressed to the "prodding" part of it, the line was getting thinner. He couldn't take this any more. Simon had to be doing this to be stubborn, because how much damage could it really do? For a week he had been driven closer and closer to just tearing the rutting bandages off, and now the temptation was too much. He opened his eyes.

The only thing he registered before being forced to screw his eyes shut again was Simon's expression of horror. Eyes closed, he heard Simon launch into a torrent of words he would've have swore the doctor didn't know, his own screaming, and then the needle in his arm brought blessed silence.

* * *

When he woke up his eyes were tightly bandaged again, and the ship was quiet. It must be late. Mal moved his head to get more comfortable, groaning as his body registered that it was awake and could now start sending him pain again. His head was killing him. 

'What were you thinking?' Simon's question was nearly a yell, and it made him jump, but the doctor continued before Mal could make an issue of it. 'I told you not to open your eyes. I made it _perfectly_ clear.'

'It was just for a second,' Mal said.

'Was it worth it?'

'Worth what?'

'If I wasn't a doctor,' Simon spat the words, 'I would be very tempted to say that you had made the blindness permanent.'

'But you are a doctor, so what's the damage?'

Simon muttered another stream of curses. 'I don't know. At least another week onto your recovery time.'

'No.'

'What do you mean, "no"?'

'They didn't teach you that word in Medacad, top-three-percent? Means that I'm not spending an extra week in here.'

'And how do you propose to do that, Captain? Given your vast medical expertise I'm sure you have some way to speed up the recovery.'

'Fix it faster.'

'Excuse me...? Fix it _faster?_ I am working as best as I can. I spent hours with the mender undoing the damage you just wrought. This is no more fun for me than it is for you.'

'Could have fooled me.'

'What?' Simon asked sharply.

'Maybe you should be working on your ears rather than my eyes.'

'Cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai! What is _wrong_ with you?'

'Apparently I can't see. Who knew?' Mal shot back.

Simon sighed. 'I've worked on children with better composure about their injuries than you. _Serious_ injuries. I worked on an eight-year old crash victim who lost the use of both legs, scars all the way up her body, lost both parents and one sibling in the crash. An eight year old. And not once did she accuse me of trying to make her worse.'

'Well I'm sorry I don't have all the composure of your core kiddies. Maybe it's knowing that my accident didn't lead to me getting my inheritance money!'

'This has nothing to do with money,' Simon snapped. 'This is you and… I don't even know what it is. I don't know what happened to make you this way. But I know that every member of your crew is doing everything they can to make you well again and for the past few days all you can do is complain about it! All because you can't lie back and let them look after you. It's selfishness and … and cowardice…'

'What did you say, boy?' Mal asked in a tone he hadn't used on Simon for months.

'I…'

Mal reached blindly on the tray beside him and flung the first thing to hand in Simon's direction.

Simon gave a shocked yelp, and fled the room.

It was only a few minutes later when there was a quiet knock at the door.

'What?' Mal growled.

'It's me, Captain,' Kaylee answered cheerfully. 'Simon thought you might want some company.'

'Is that right?'

'Yup. Said he thought he might have been a little rough when he was examining you and you were a bit sore.'

'That ain't quite…' he answered, slightly guiltily.

'I told him to go and get some sleep. That's probably why he was a bit shaky. He's been sleeping on that chair since you got hurt, and it's not really comfy enough to get any real shut-eye. He was real sorry, Captain, please don't yell at him anymore.'

Gorram boy couldn't let him have the high ground even for five minutes, could he?

* * *

Translations:  
_cào nî zûxiān shí bâ dai_ - fuck 18 generations of your ancestors 


	5. Chapter 5

'Gorram yúchûn húndàn!' River was screaming.

'River, I don't know what you…' Simon protested.

'Could have broken you!'

'Who did? River, if you don't calm down you're going to have to leave the infirmary.' It sounded as if they were scuffling at the doorway.

'Him!' she called venomously. Then her voice went calm and solemn, always a bad sign. 'See how he likes it.'

'River,' Simon said sternly, just a hint of panic underneath it. 'Give Jayne back his knife.'

'He did it to you.'

'Who, Jayne? Jayne's never cut me. He prefers fists to knives when dealing with friends.'

'Not him, him!' she cried in frustration. 'Instruments of healing used for hurt.'

'You mean Mal,' Simon realized. He finished quietly, 'He didn't mean it.'

'Didn't mean what?' Mal asked sullenly. He hadn't quite forgiven Simon for their screaming match yet.

'To cut me,' Simon answered.

'What? I've punched you twice, doc, and those were both a while back. That's it.'

'It's nothing,' Simon said.

'Not bruises,' River corrected. 'Wounds.' Her voice was over Mal now.

'River, give me the scalpel back now!' Simon instructed.

Scalpel. The scalpels that Simon left on his medical tray beside the bed. _That _was what he had thrown at the doctor. So he hadn't stormed off angry or scared after all, he had been bleeding.

'Wanted to blind you too.' River's voice was still anguished, but Simon seemed to have got her to the door. 'Could have been an eye.'

Suspicion flaring uncomfortably, Mal asked, 'Where did I hit you?'

'What?' Simon asked. 'Captain, it really doesn't…'

'Where?'

'Just above my cheek. But it really doesn't…'

Mal turned his head away and feigned sleep.

* * *

'Is the Captain awake?' Mal woke to Kaylee's voice at the infirmary door. 

'I don't know,' Simon said. 'Captain? Mal?'

Mal stayed quiet. He couldn't take Kaylee's warmth or Simon's concern right now.

'Captain,' Simon continued. 'Kaylee and I are going to take the engine apart, is that okay?'

'Simon!' Kaylee protested, giggling.

'Engineering's pretty much the same as surgery anyway, yes?'

'Simon!'

'Now we know he's asleep,' Simon replied, unrepentant.

'I guess that's true,' she conceded. Mal heard her trip over to the side of the room, and then a dull thumping as she climbed onto the bench and kicked her heels against it.

'Kaylee...' Simon said.

'What?' she asked innocently.

'Nothing,' he answered in resignation.

'So... how are you and the Captain?'

'What do you mean?'

'Spendin a lot of time together, aren't ya?'

'He's my patient, Kaylee. If I wasn't spending a lot of time with him I wouldn't be very good at my job.'

'You know what I mean...'

'I _really _wish I didn't.'

'Come on, Simon...'

'Kaylee.' There was a deep sigh, as if the two of them had been having this conversation for a while. Mal couldn't remember ever hearing it, but as it seemed to involve him in some way, that wasn't unlikely.

'Come on, doc, you break a gal's heart, won't even do her the courtesy of giving her the gossip after?'

Mal would have spoken up. _No one_, but no one, broke his girl's heart, but Kaylee was giggling, so he suspected she was joking.

'Kaylee, I...'

'Relax, Simon, you know I'm just teasin. Not about the gossip, though, so spill.'

'Kaylee, why did I tell you about my preferences?'

She sighed and parroted back, 'So I wouldn't be hurt that you weren't chasin me.'

Well that was a new bit of information. Not entirely surprising, but interesting to know. How in the hell did he miss Kaylee finding out that one? Mal would have though the whole ship would have heard her sobbing at the end of that crush.

Simon was still talking, 'What was _not_ the reason that I told you?'

She dutifully answered, 'So I could set you up with the captain.'

'Exactly...'

Wait. What now? This was not... Mal gave up trying to get his head around that and just listened.

'But that's not what I'm doing!' Kaylee protested. 'I just want a little gossip. You know, girl-talk.'

'Kaylee!' Simon's indignant squeak wasn't going to help his case much.

Kaylee was giggling again. 'Still an easy mark. So come on. You gotta give me _something_. When did you first, you know, realise an all.'

'Realise what?'

'Simon!'

'I'm being serious. When did I realise that he was good-looking, or when did I...'

'Love. Sex-wanting. That one.'

Simon laughed then, reluctantly. 'Jiangyin'

'Jiangyin…' Kaylee said. 'That was the planet where you and River got yourselves took, right?'

'We didn't _get ourselves _taken,' Simon protested mildly. 'It was just unfortunate.'

'Sure,' she replied agreeably. 'So, why then? Woulda thought you'd be more mad than anything else. Us leaving you there.'

'I wasn't surprised.' Simon's voice had lost the teasing edge, and it took Kaylee a moment to process the words.

'What?'

'I mean, I suppose I was shocked, because the ship wasn't supposed to be leaving yet, but I wasn't really… surprised. I didn't expect to be on the ship very long.'

'Simon…' Kaylee's voice had worlds of hurt and pity in it.

'It isn't that I thought badly of him. Or of any of you really. It was just that he didn't… there was no reason for him not to leave us there.'

'Captain's a good man, Simon, he wasn't ever not gonna come back.'

'Be that as it may, I didn't expect him to.'

'Don't go all formality on me again. Why didn't you think we'd come and get you?'

'It's hard to…you get on well with your family, don't you?'

She was bewildered, but replied, 'I guess so. Me an my folks fight sometimes I guess, but it's always…'

'There to come back to.'

'Sure,' Kaylee said, as if this was as certain as the sunrise.

'One of the last things my father said to me… he had just bailed me out. I got caught somewhere I shouldn't have been, looking for information about River. And he had to come and pay for them to release me. It's not that I don't understand it… it was a big thing, it goes on your record, and he was at a dinner-party, so he had to explain his way out of that… I mean, maybe he did think I was just going mad, and River was fine. But she couldn't have been, and he knew that, because I gave him the letters. And I'll never know now whether he just didn't believe me, or he thought I was right but he knew better, or maybe he just didn't care. But he stood there and…' Simon's speech had got strung together, so he stopped.

'What happened?' Kaylee asked

'He told me if I did it again he wouldn't come and get me.'

Kaylee was silent, and Mal could feel her horror that a father could abandon both his children that way. Truth be told, he felt more than a little like strangling Simon's folks himself.

'So you see,' Simon went on, 'I had reconciled myself with the idea that the two of us were on our own now. I didn't expect to be anywhere very long. And it wasn't such a surprise to be left. But then they tried to… there were so many of them, and I fought, but I was never going to be able to stop them. So I got up there with her, and I was preparing myself to… I wasn't going to let her be burnt to death, or let her die choking. I couldn't do that… but when I looked at her, she was smiling. Just smiling. And she looked down at me and said, "Daddy's coming". Just like that. And I didn't know how to tell that there was no one to come for us.'

'And then the Captain came,' Kaylee finished.

'Yes,' Mal could hear the warmth in Simon's voice even without seeing the smile. 'Walking out of the smoke. I think that was the moment I was doomed.'

'Bet you went all weak at the knees and everything,' Kaylee giggled.

'Weak in the brain,' Simon corrected. 'I couldn't get my head around the idea that he was actually there. And then he got them to cut River down. He said that she was his, do you remember that? Well, ours, but that's not… I asked him, afterwards, why he had come back, and he didn't even know why I was asking. He just said that we were crew.' Simon's voice was wondering, as if he still wasn't sure why it had happened.

'Of course you're crew!' Kaylee exclaimed, her soft heart eager to make amends for all the wrongs done to Simon by those who should have looked out for him.

'I know that now,' Simon said gently. 'But back then it was in question. I don't think I believed that if… family is supposed to be the place that has to take you in, no matter what you've done. I suppose I thought that if family wouldn't, then no one else would either.'

'We're family now, Simon.' Kaylee responded warmly. She had moved across the room, and Mal imagined she had an arm around Simon.

'I know.' There was a crack in Simon's voice. 'I don't think I'd know how to behave on Osiris now. I've got to the point where…home is this place where I wake up and the walls are vibrating because of the engines, and I can hear my sister breathing next door. Where I go for a walk in the middle of the night and either I meet someone already awake, or within three minutes Mal's got his head out of his bunk telling me someone better be dead or dying if I'm going to make such a racket in the middle of the night.'

'He gets grouchy.'

'I know. One of these days though, I'm going to give him River's spiel about there being no night on a ship anyway.'

'Sweetie, sometimes I think you want the Captain to hit you.'

Simon laughed. 'Well that would be an interesting new level of dysfunction, especially given the fact that I seem to have tied Mal into my father issues.'

'You're not really…' Kaylee sounded unsure.

'No.' Simon's voice was muffled, and now Mal knew that Kaylee was hugging him tight to her shoulder. 'I'm just having a bad day.'

'Did I make it worse?'

'No, as usual you made it better.'

'Is it the Captain throwing scalpels at you yesterday?'

'How did you… did River…?'

'She told me it was a scalpel. I figured out that he was throwing things when you came out of there bleeding. You gotta stop letting him push you around.'

'He's the Captain. And he's sick, and I feel like I'm not doing enough to make him better.'

'What else could you be doing?' Unless you want to give him one of your own eyes to borrow, he'll just have to be patient, and start being nicer to you. No more scalpels,' she said firmly.

'I'll be sure and tell him that.'

'I'll tell him that. You go and sleep in your own bed for a while.'

'Kaylee, I'm not a child. Or a hormonal teenager, if that's what's bothering you. I can cope with being in the same room with him, even if I want him to…'

'Make with the sex with you, right now this minute?'

'Kaylee!'

'You look tired, Simon, that's what's bothering me. Go to bed. Else I'll drag you there myself, and who knows what might happen?'

He laughed. 'Okay. Wake me up in a few hours, okay?'

'I promise. Me and the Captain are just going to have a little talk.'

'Be nice.'

'Okey-dokey. Now bed!'

'Night.' Simon said, leaving the infirmary.

'Night-night,' Kaylee called back. She placed a hand on Mal's ankle. 'Now, being asleep is no excuse not to listen to this. You need to start being nicer to the doctor, okay? No more making him cry. Cause you're a good man, and good men don't make nice doctors who love them cry. Got that?'

Mal had to hold himself very still not to give into the reflex to nod assent.

* * *

Translations:  
_yúchûn_ - stupid/ignorant  
_húndàn_ - asshole/bastard 


	6. Chapter 6

He wasn't exactly sure when it had started. Simon was standing beside the console, singing softly to himself, and Mal was convinced that this wasn't the first time. Now that he thought about it, in the past few days he had heard this song a couple of times. He hadn't called Simon on it, not wanting to disturb their peace after the scalpel throwing. But he knew that the doctor hadn't always done it, because God knew Mal had spent enough time lying in the infirmary that he would have noticed.

'Doctor?' Mal jumped as Zoë spoke from beside Simon. 'Sorry, sir,' she apologised.

'No problem,' Mal replied, 'Just didn't hear you come in.'

'Still sorry, sir,' she said. Then, continuing, 'Doctor? We're going into town, you need anything?'

'River wanted...' Simon began.

'River's coming.'

'So there isn't...?'

'No Alliance presence on Rhea,' Mal assured him. Zoë had already run over the plans with him. It was an obvious, but still appreciated, attempt to make him feel in charge of where his boat went.

'Okay then.' Simon sounded unconvinced, but assented. 'In that case, just some supplies for the infirmary.' Again, that under-the-breath humming, this time moving across the room to behind Mal. 'Here.'

'We need all these?' Zoë asked.

'I would _like_ all of these things,' Simon amended. 'If we're short on coin, use my cut. And if that doesn't do it, the ones with the stars are the vital supplies.'

'You sure you don't want anything for you? Kaylee's made a request for fresh fruit, and River's getting coloured pencils...'

'We didn't make a lot on our last run, and we're a little short on drugs. I can get myself something when we're doing better.'

'If you're sure, doctor.'

'I am. But thank you, Zoë.'

'See you in a bit. Try to keep out of trouble, sir.'

'Hey!' Mal protested. 'Trouble finds _me._'

'Of course, sir,' she answered. 'You just don't seem to make much attempt to hide from it.'

'Hey!'

* * *

This time he was sure of it. River had wandered into the room to show Simon her pencils, but had stopped in the doorway. 

'I know this one.'

'Know what, mei-mei?'

'You're singing,' she pointed out. Mal wondered why her clarity seemed to surface most when she was using her "Simon's being a boob" voice.

'I know that.'

'Haven't sung in months. Too many memories. Leaves tossing in the wind, all blown away.' There it went again.

'River...'

She didn't give him a chance to finish. Picking up where he had left off, she began humming the melody of whatever Simon had been singing.

Mal could almost here the mental shrug as Simon returned to what he had been doing, moving around the sides of the infirmary, now humming the baseline of the song. Then, a shocked turning-round. 'River! You can't... don't pirouette in here!'

* * *

He started to look out for it. If he pretended to be asleep, most of the time Simon worked quietly. When he moved, or spoke, however, Simon would speak, or hum, or even just walk louder. 

Mostly though, he sang. Too quiet to hear the words, but Mal could hear the tunes. They were normally classical, some dancing music that he recognised, others operas or the occasional popular song.

And the others had started to join in. Not Book or Zoë, neither being of a particularly musical turn, but the others. River was a matter of course, but the rest were a surprise. Wash, he had found out, had a startlingly strong tenor, and knew all the words of the operas. That was a definitely a mystery for some rainy afternoon. Inara, of course, was trained well enough to accompany Simon in everything, although, like Wash, seemed to favour the operas.

Kaylee, naturally, joined in enthusiastically to whatever it was. If she didn't know the music, she would make up her own, and Simon would laugh quietly and join in with the variations.

Jayne had ignored him in the beginning, but after a few days, he had started to do it just to be ornery. He wouldn't hum anything like what Simon was singing, but instead old folk songs that he knew Simon would never have heard on Osiris. And, of course, the ones with a certain theme were the ones he would take to singing out loud, his gruff bass picking out the words with relish. He nearly jumped out of his skin the day Simon's sweet tenor joined in on a particularly choice verse.

But even on his own, Simon refused to be silent. Mal wouldn't have objected (much), if he didn't think he knew what Simon was up to.

'You don't have to do that, doc.'

'What?' Simon asked in confusion.

'Your very fine impression of a songbird.'

'I'm just singing. If it's bothering you I'll stop.'

'It's not...' He jolted as Simon's fingers came down unexpectedly on his arm. He hadn't heard him come across the room. 'I know _why_ you're doing it, doc.'

'And why would that be?' Simon asked distractedly, checking the needle.

'You think you ought to let me know whereabouts you're standing.'

'Captain, I...' He was paying attention now.

'And don't get me wrong doc, appreciate the gesture, but it ain't necessary.'

'You jump when Jayne comes in.'

'Anybody with more'n half a brain would jump when that man enters a room.'

'And Zoë?'

'Woman walks like a cat, doc. Men with 20/20 vision in both eyes jump six feet into the air when she comes up behind them.'

'Fine. I'll stop.'

'Thank you.'

* * *

It took four hours. Four hours when he couldn't tell, as he drifted in and out of sleep, whether Simon was there and being quiet, or had left to find something. He was startled into awareness on no less than six occasions when soft fingers reached for his arm, or felt under his bandages. Wasn't even as if doc walked soft normally, so Mal suspected he was being taken for a ride. 

Did for the first three hours anyway. The next one he spent planning how to get out of this gracefully. Because what he had failed to consider was that while Zoë was always going to make him jump out of her skin doing that appearing-from-behind thing, the others tended to adopt Simon's manners. So now he couldn't hear any of them. This in addition to how little he had considered the amount of time Simon spent wandering round the infirmary before coming at him from any number of directions, unnoticed until he touched Mal or spoke.

When the thought came, it was an obvious one. Mal hummed quietly for a few minutes before he heard Simon join in.

A few minutes later, the doctor paused. 'Sorry, I didn't realise. I'll be quiet.'

'Don't stop,' Mal muttered.

Simon was still quiet. Then, just as Mal thought he was going to have to swallow his pride and be more explicit, Simon started again.

Mal listened. This time it wasn't an orchestral piece, or any of those arias River and Simon loved so much. If he was the type of man who blushed, he might have blushed. 'What have I told you about listening to Jayne?'

'I don't know, Captain, some of those songs can be quite... educational.' There was a teasing lilt to Simon's voice as he spoke.

'I don't reckon some of those... activities... are even physically possible.'

'I'm a doctor, Captain, I know exactly how far the body bends.'

And with that choice phrase, Simon returned to the computer. Mal fell asleep to the sound of Simon's voice singing about how wonderful it was to meet a woman of such skill in a town like this. Or something like that anyway. The words didn't seem to matter so much.

* * *

AN2: Review? Also, replies:

_Surplus Imagination - Thanks for reading, especially if you were reluctant to read slash. I, unfortunately, have no difficulties seeing the two together, it's getting it on the page that's problematic. Hope I can convince you!_

_Helen C: Friend! Hiya. Glad you like my Simon, he's my favourite too, (in the show and in my fic!) and luckily he sounds most like me, so he seems a little easier to write._

_And thanks James Jago, Montana, and Blue Eyed Dragon Girl. Glad you're all enjoying it so far, and hope you like the latest!_


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: The last chapters. My first Firefly fic is posted the night before our little fandom grows up and is hijacked by many new and exciting people. That sounds a little sneering, but I am excited, honest! (Although more than a little annoyed that I have to wait another week for the UK premiere... even though I saw it in Edinburgh...). So everyone send happy thoughts to the cinema-going public to make the BDM do well. We found something special, so its time to share it with the world...

Enjoy the end of the story. And Surplus Imagination, you were right, Mal goes wandering!

* * *

'Simon? Can you take a look at Jayne's arm?' Zoë asked. 

Mal was sitting up at the end of the infirmary bed, trying to keep track of whose injuries Simon had and hadn't dealt with yet.

'Metal in it,' River observed with a gloomy interest. Whether she was talking about Jayne's arm or some injury of her own, Mal couldn't tell.

This hadn't been the best of days. It had begun at four a.m. ship-time with a screaming fit from River. Then the new job, the one that he had felt unaccountably uneasy about, had ended in every member of the crew bar himself with some injury or another. He still wasn't entirely sure what had went wrong, the cargo had been delivered and paid for, but someone on the dustbowl planet seemed to have taken against them. Jayne had assured him that he had never been on this planet to steal vast amounts of money and nearly spur off a workers rebellion, so that option was out.

Simon had been working for three hours now, laboriously stitching up knife wounds and a few bullet grazes, and checking concussions. 'Is that everyone?' he asked, voice strained.

Mal had a sudden troubling thought. If everyone on the crew had been in the fight, what about... 'Simon?'

'Yes, Captain?' The boy was at his side in an instant.

'Did you...' There was a crash.

'Simon!' Kaylee shrieked.

Mal crawled off the cot and reached for Simon. Ignoring the twinge of humiliation, he felt about the floor until he hit Simon's shoulder. 'Zoë?'

'Right here, sir.'

Between the two of them, Simon was hauled into an unsteady sitting position. 'Sorry,' he murmured contritely. 'I must have been standing up too long.'

Mal was feeling down Simon's body, and as Simon wasn't protesting, he must be more out of it than he realised. When his fingers hit dampness at Simon's waist, he stopped. 'Doctor?' Mal waved his fingers in front of Simon's face.

'Mal, you're bleeding.'

'Nope, doc, that would be you. When were you gonna tell us all?'

'Oh, I was thinking, right about now.'

'When everyone else was fixed up?'

'That's right,' Simon slurred the words.

'Right. Ni shi bai chi,' Mal muttered with no particular malice. 'Okay, doc, we're gonna lift you onto the bed so Zoë can take a look at you.'

'Captain, it's just a graze, I can do it myself.'

'Right now you look just about dazed enough to sew your lips shut instead. And while I'm not saying that wouldn't be a kindness...'

'Húndàn,' Simon said, glaring.

'That's me,' Mal answered agreeably. 'Now come on.'

'Captain,' Zoë said, 'Are you sure you should be…'

'It's been two weeks, the burns are healed. I can lift him, I just can't see where to.'

'That was kinda my point, sir.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

'I know where the bed is. How hard can it be?' Zoë backed down but he imagined she had put on her "why am I following this man, again?" look. Mal stepped carefully over Simon, and knelt down beside the doctor again. He hooked one arm under Simon's knees, and wrapped the other round his shoulders. 'Okay.' Getting up was harder than it should be. Apparently those burns weren't quite healed up yet.

'I can take him, Mal,' Jayne offered.

'I've got it,' Mal snapped, wondering again how Simon and Jayne had made up without him noticing.

'Just offerin,' Jayne grumbled. 'Don't want you blaming me when you drop the boy and he cracks his head open.'

He didn't bother replying to that one. Mal hauled himself up and raised Simon to approximately the right height. He stepped forward.

'Ow!' Simon exclaimed.

'Sorry.' Mal lifted him a little higher. That was right. When he felt his legs hit the cot, he placed Simon gently on the bed. 'There.' Mal pushed the hair out of Simon's eyes carefully and turned to glower at his doubting crew.

'Perfect, Captain,' Kaylee said encouragingly.

Zoë came up beside him. 'Can I take a look now, sir, or is blindfolded surgery another one of those skills you've neglected to tell us about?'

'Go ahead,' he answered generously.

* * *

Simon had been right, it was only a shallow cut. His collapse had been part exhaustion over the past two weeks and part the three hours of surgery while slowly bleeding out. What kind of idiot didn't think to even bandage the thing to stop the blood, even if he wouldn't take the time to stitch it? 

So now Mal was lying on the hospital cot again, Simon at least persuaded to lie down on the other side of the room, though he refused to leave it. Mal, on the other hand, was desperate to leave. This had been another of those days were, but for sheer luck, a bullet or knife could have taken out any one of his crew. He could never sleep properly after a day like that. After a few half-awake dreams about blood and screaming, and a particularly jolt-worthy one of River screaming in his ear at Simon getting himself shot, he sat up. If anything good had happened today, it had been him proving that he was okay to get out of bed.

With only the slightest of guilty looks at the doctor lying in the bed facing his, Mal pulled himself onto the floor. He walked slowly towards the doorway, thankful that no one was awake to see him wandering around with his hands outstretched to find the walls.

He made it up the stairs. That might have been the problem. Having successfully negotiated the first difficult part, he sped up. Hitting something (someone?) in the darkness made him fall heavily to the ground. He chose to stay there. All he had wanted was to make it from the infirmary to the kitchen. That was so much to ask?

He sat in the corridor for a long moment. Somewhere in the ship, someone screamed. Heart-pounding, it took him a longer than it should to work out that it was River. He envied, just for a second, how easy she found it to cry for help. River had a nightmare, screamed, and in less than a minute Simon would be at her side.

Or not. He heard soft, quick footfalls coming towards him, followed by less graceful, probably still half-asleep ones. River dropped down beside him. 'All you need to do is ask,' she whispered. It was always slightly disturbing when River said something cryptic that you understood.

'River!' Simon exclaimed admonishingly. He was at the far end of the corridor. 'Why did you run away? You could be waking up everyone else…' he trailed off.

'You just gonna stand there looking?' Mal asked tiredly.

'Perhaps. Did you fall, or why are you on the floor?'

'Tripped on something.'

Simon paused. 'It's a metal pole,' he said bemusedly. 'It's…I have no idea what it's doing there.'

'Probably Jayne.'

'Probably. Why did you leave?'

'Didn't realize I wasn't supposed to.'

'That's why you snuck out in the middle of the night just after I had collapsed from blood-loss?'

'Okay, when you say it like that of course it's gonna sound pre-meditated.'

'You're trying to claim that it wasn't?'

'Couldn't sleep. Just wanted out of there.'

'Okay.'

'Okay?'

'Yes.' Simon's placed his hand in Mal's to pull him up. 'Tea?'

Mal allowed himself to be led towards the dining room.

Simon deposited him on one of the couches and River curled up beside Mal, suspiciously calm now. Simon made three cups of tea and sat down with the two of them.

'Simon?' River asked. 'Do you remember the stories?' Her voice had gone distant again.

'Which stories, mei mei?' he asked. Mal could hear the stress in the young man's voice.

'From before. Princesses and peas, and witches and knights, and pirates and thieves and kings.'

'That was a long time ago,' he laughed. 'When you were very small I used to read to you, but...'

'Not so long,' she protested. 'Now too.'

'Now?'

'Must be. Otherwise the thieves would kill the boy and sell the girl,' she said, panicked.

'River…'

'No sense. Illogic everywhere!' her voice rose higher.

'River, please,' Simon begged.

'Hush now,' Mal ordered. She went quiet. 'Mei mei, even in the world, people sometimes do good things, dong ma?'

'Balance,' she muttered.

Mal nodded uncertainly. 'Sure, there's that. And maybe the boy was very good at his job. And maybe the Captain had a weakness for strays.'

'Yes?'

'Yeah. So why don't you lie back and let your brother rest? He's pretty beat.'

'Can't fix everything.'

'No, he can't. Doesn't seem to stop him trying.' Simon sighed, but both Mal and River ignored it. 'Tell you what,' Mal offered, 'you sit at peace, and _I'll_ tell you a story. Okay?'

'Shiny,' she answered with a giggle.

'Okay then. Once upon a time, there lived a precocious brat, and her long-suffering big brother who adored her…'

'Not a brat!' she whispered, poking him.

'Shh!'

* * *

It was still night when Mal woke to River easing her way off the chair. Simon's head fell against Mal's shoulder, but he didn't wake. Mal curled one hand lightly around the younger man's upper arm to stop him falling. 

'Shush,' River whispered. 'He needs sleep.'

'That he does,' Mal agreed quietly.

She echoed her words from months ago, 'He takes so much looking after.'

'I've got him,' Mal answered, not knowing why he had used "him" rather than "it".

She skipped towards the door. 'I know,' she said. 'But he doesn't.'

* * *

Translations: 

_Ni shi bai chi - _you're an idiot  
_húndàn_ - asshole/bastard


	8. Chapter 8

For the past week, Simon had walked with him from the infirmary to the dining room. Mal didn't need to be led now, but Simon was convinced that he needed to be watched, and it was too small a thing to fight over. Besides, it meant there was someone around to order to bring him coffee.

Simon handed him a cup and went to walk away. Mal reached upwards suddenly and snagged Simon's wrist. Turning the hand over, he ran sure fingers over Simon's palm. 'You want to explain this, Doctor?'

'It's a hand?' Simon observed dryly.

'That it is. The hand of my ship's medic. Normally, as I believe I may have noted, lily-white and smooth all over. Now, however, much less with the smooth.' Mal rubbed his thumb on three small calluses. 'Do you want to know what it feels like?'

'What?' Simon asked.

'It _feels_ like the hand of someone, not used to shooting things, trying to handle a gun with too much kick for him. I miss anything?'

'...No... that sounds accurate enough.'

'Whose gun did you steal?'

'I didn't steal it!'

'Sorry, doc, whose gun did you _borrow_?'

'I _asked_ Jayne to show me.'

'You asked _Jayne_?'

'Who would you rather I asked?'

'You shouldn't be asking anyone! You're meant to be taking the bullets out, not putting them in!'

'Regrettably, Captain, in our line of work, I need to be able to do both.'

'Oh it's _our_ line of work now, is it?'

'Since I don't seem to have much prospect of doing anything else, yes!'

Mal took a deep breath, and softened his voice. 'You do your part on this boat fine, doctor. I don't need your hands to be able to point guns, as long as they can hold a scalpel steady. You mess them up with Jayne's guns they won't be any use for the delicate stuff. And, as you may have noticed, delicacy is a skill most of my crew are lacking in.'

'Inara had it.'

Mal sighed. 'She did. Still does, I'll wager. But she ain't exactly _crew_ now is she? Though she does prove the point. Her line of work, she needs her hands good, so she keeps them that way. She doesn't rough them up when she don't need to.'

'She can still handle a gun.'

'She can. Little ones. You got the cash to go buy yourself one of her pieces, you go ahead. No more of Jayne's, dong ma?'

'Kaylee...' Simon began.

'Kaylee understands, same as you should, that her job is to fix things, not poke holes in them.'

'Kaylee thinks she messed up on the space-station. She thinks it's a problem that she can't shoot. And every time we get into a fight, like last week, it brings it back.'

'I told her that it wasn't a problem. In fact, as I recall, I told her I'm happier with her _not_ playing with guns.'

'But she isn't. Because things on this ship have a habit of degenerating into fire-fights. And those of us who have no particular skill in the ending of lives feel that we...' Simon trailed off.

'What? Aren't pulling your weight? Simon, the number of times you, or Kaylee, or Wash have got the rest of us out of trouble...'

'Still doesn't beat the number of times you or Zoë or Jayne have got River or I out of gun-related trouble.'

'Do what you like, doc.' Mal answered in resignation. 'But don't go doing it on my account. You pay for you and little sis's passage on my boat just fine.'

'Thank you,' Simon muttered. 'But I still... what are you doing now!' His voice jumped an octave or two as Mal's hand landed firmly on his hip.

Mal grinned at Simon's nerves as he patted down the hip to Simon's thigh. 'Just checking you haven't decided to swap your white coat for a holster.'

Before Mal could reach over to the other hip Simon jumped away. Mal heard him clattering things around at the sink. 'I keep it in the cabinet in the infirmary,' he responded, eventually, slightly embarrassed.

'One of Jayne's?'

'Zoë's. You know Jayne doesn't loan out his guns!'

'Good point. Still too much heft for you though. I told you, get something like Inara's if you have this desperate urge to defend the infirmary from all-comers.'

'As you may have noticed, Captain, I don't exactly have a lot of spare cash. And the kind of weapons Inara had don't come cheaply.'

'Tell Zoë to buy you something next time we land.'

The comment was made so casually that it took Simon a moment to respond. 'Captain! I can't ask Zoë to... that money's for the upkeep of the ship!'

'It also keeps us in ammunition, and supplies, and all manner of things that I don't ask crew to pay for out of their share. Jayne only buys the real fancy stuff from his own cash, not standard rounds. And, last I heard, you were using your share to buy us medicine.'

'That's because I use so much of our medical supplies on River, it's only fair that I...'

'No it ain't. Most days we don't have that much cash left to give out much of a cut, but what you get's for you. River buys candy, and pencils, and who knows what else, but the girl knows that money's for her own self. You, on the other hand... what was the last thing you bought that wasn't for River, or some kind of medical supply? That includes books about doctoring before you say anything else.'

'Ah... a book I suppose. A novel, not an encyclopedia.'

'And when would that be?'

'Hmm... whenever we carried those silks. When was that?'

'Wuh de ma, Simon, that was seven months ago!'

'Quite possibly.'

Mal shook his head in despair. 'I'm going to the cockpit, okay?'

'Do you want...?'

'It's been a week. If anyone's still leaving things around in the corridors, I'll yell, and we can go kill 'em together.'

'Okay then,' Simon laughed.

Mal made his way to the cockpit without incident and stood at the doorway.

'Sir?' Zoë inquired from the pilot's seat.

'You the only one here?'

'Just me. Keeping an eye on the autopilot for a bit.'

'Good. Understand that I ask this without judgement. Have you lost your mind! You let Jayne, _Jayne _of all people, show him how to shoot?'

'Well sir, they seemed to be beyond the point of wanting to shoot each other, and given that they were both grown men...'

'That's not the point!'

'Sorry sir, won't happen again. When the Reavers come and kill us all because we're short of cover fire, I'm sure it'll be a great comfort to know that your orders were carried out.'

'Zoë...' Mal growled, 'It isn't the learning that bothers me, well... it is, but I'm over that now. Jayne shouldn't be doing the teaching.'

'Jayne's the best shot, sir.'

'Jayne totes guns so large even I get banged around using them.'

'Sir...'

'Next planet. Buy him,' he jerked his head down the corridor, 'a pistol. Little recoil as you can manage. Something a little more... elegant... than Jayne's pieces.'

'I wouldn't advise telling Jayne that, sir. But I'm sure we can manage it.'

'And make sure that doc gets himself something next time we're on-world, okay?'

'Sir?'

'Boy's spending all his spare cash on drugs. It ain't right.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Don't smirk like that, it don't suit you.'

'You can't see me, sir,' she observed.

'Doesn't mean I can't tell when you're mocking me. I've had plenty of practice, remember? Just make sure it's done.'

'Yes, sir.' Mal swore he could feel her knowing smile as he left.


	9. Chapter 9

He wasn't exactly sure why he was standing there. Mal was on the gallery, while the crew played ball in the cargo bay. Not that he could work out much of what was going on, but Kaylee had asked him to come. Plus, as she had pointed out, Simon was playing. That was too much of an event to miss, even if the only evidence Mal had that he was even there was the occasional squawk as Jayne ran heavily into the doctor.

Mal decided that it didn't matter so much that he couldn't see them. He could hear the babble of laughter, and Kaylee and Wash cheering enthusiastically when either of their teams scored. River was standing beside him, peering over and reciting numbers and angles, but when Simon scored she paused to clap, so he supposed she was having a good day. She just liked numbers.

'Next point wins,' Jayne called.

They continued for five minutes or so after that, seemingly without anyone getting close enough to score.

'Simon!' Wash called. 'Over here!'

There was a thud and a strangled sound. 'Jayne, stop squashing my husband,' Zoë said calmly.

'Mal!' The throw was soft and square at his chest. Even without the call he might have caught it. Simon had apparently decided that the safest option for the pass was the person Jayne couldn't reach to crush. It was touching, if just a little insane, that Simon had trusted that he would catch it.

He rolled the ball from hand to hand consideringly.

From beside him River offered, 'It's just trajectory and memory. Simple if you do the maths.'

Nodding at her, he took aim at where the ring should be, and let fly.

The ball thudded off the ring and bounced away. Jayne chuckled. 'Not bad, Mal, but maybe you should leave that kinda thing to the two-eyed folk among us.'

There was a familiar swoosh noise, and Mal knew what had happened even before Jayne's outraged howls.

'We win,' Simon proclaimed smugly.

'Qingwa cào de liúmáng! You wait one minute there, doc. Can't cheat like that,' Jayne said.

'Like what?' Simon asked.

'You had an extra player!'

'I thought he wasn't up to the standards of the "two-eyed folk"?'

'He distracted me!'

'Don't be so easily distracted next time.'

'I'll give you distraction!'

There was a clatter of footsteps and amused encouragement-cum-warning from the rest of the crew.

Mal heard Simon on the stairs, hotly pursued by Jayne's thudding.

He reached out and snagged Simon's arm, rougher than he had intended. The doctor fell against his chest, panting heavily. 'Looks like you need rescuing, doc,' Mal said.

'Are you offering?' Simon asked carefully.

'Looks like.'

'Then thank you.'

Mal pushed Simon behind him and groaned unconvincingly. 'Ow! Doc's gonna have to come and have a look at these bandages. Your maiming'll have to wait, Jayne.'

'Now you just wait right there!'

'Sorry,' Simon said innocently.

'Low down dirty…' Jayne began.

'Deciever?' Mal offered.

As they walked to the infirmary, Mal was close enough to feel Simon's soft laughter.

When they arrived, Mal perched casually on the end of the bed, but Simon hovered. 'Do you mind if I...?' Simon gestured at the bandages.

'Thought we were just hiding out.'

'Yes, and I do appreciate it, but I haven't ran a check on your eyes for a few days.'

'And since you've successfully corralled me back in here...'

'I thought I would try my luck,' Simon agreed.

'So I should just lie back here on the bed and think happy thoughts while you stick things in me?'

There was a pause and Mal wondered if Simon was blushing. Doc clearly had a dirty mind. Good to know. 'That would be fine,' Simon answered eventually, calmly.

Mal lay down on the cot and Simon knocked him out to start the mender. This was getting awful familiar.

* * *

'Open your eyes.' 

Mal woke. Or thought he woke anyway. Those words didn't make much sense if he was awake.

'Open your eyes, Captain,' Simon repeated.

'You gave me pretty specific instructions as to what would happen if I did that again,' Mal answered cautiously.

'Only if you did without me telling you. Trust me.' He did, of course. Well, as much as he trusted anyone. Simon had taken the bandages off, and he wouldn't have risked Mal's eyes by messing around with this. But last time...

'It's okay, Captain.'

Mal opened his eyes.

The world came slowly into view. He could make out Simon's silhouette across the room. 'It's dark.'

'I turned out the lights so you wouldn't strain your eyes.' Simon's voice was excited. 'Should I...?'

'Turn them on.'

Mal blinked at the lights came on. It did hurt his eyes a little. Simon came over to the side of the bed and shone a torch in them, which didn't help the problem much. He pushed at Simon's hands and held them away from him so he could look at the doctor properly. 'Well ain't you a sight for sore eyes.'

'How long have you been waiting to say that?' Simon asked, laughing. '...and more importantly, would you still have said it if I had made sure that Jayne was the first thing you saw?'

Mal looked up at Simon, who was smiling brightly. It was rare to see Simon's eyes so openly affectionate when dealing with someone who wasn't River or Kaylee. The blue eyes sparkled with warmth and relief. Mal pushed himself up to a sitting position and, unthinking, pulled him down for a kiss.

There was a second where he believed that it would work. Simon closed his eyes peacefully and leant down. But it was only a second. Simon pulled away, not just from the kiss, but all the way across the infirmary.

'Don't,' Simon said brokenly.

'Don't what, Simon? Cause last I heard you wanted to do that, too,' Mal said.

'You listened to Kaylee and me talking.' Simon folded his arms protectively across his chest.

'I...' Mal started.

'I _knew_ you weren't always asleep, but that was _private_.'

'So that's a no then.' Mal said

'A no to what? To "thank God I can see again" sex?'

'You think that's what I was offering?'

'I don't know what you were offering, Captain, but I doubt it was what I want from you. As I'm sure you know,' he added bitterly.

'And what if I was offering more than that?'

Simon's expression softened, but he still looked sad. 'Then I would say you're mistaking gratefulness for my fixing you, and the fact that we've spent so much time together in the past month, for something that it isn't.'

'Don't have much faith in my faculties, do you?'

'Before this happened, Captain, you were hardly showing me a great deal of interest that way.'

'And no one's ever just realised that they liked someone?'

'Tell me something you like about me that isn't connected to me being a doctor or River's brother,' Simon asked fiercely.

Put on the spot, Mal could only offer, 'You have nice eyes.'

'See?'

Mal demanded, 'Well okay then, tell me things you like about me that aren't about me being Captain and coming for you and River on Jiangyin.'

Simon smiled wretchedly, 'You make me laugh. You talk about criminality, but you believe so fiercely in the right thing to do, and do it. You're charming when you like the person you're talking to. You don't put up with idiocy or cruelty. You've made a family out of nothing, all of whom are willing to risk their lives for you. And that's not about you being Captain, they just love you.' He paused and then ran headlong into the last part. 'And the way you smile at me when you wake up and forget that even though you can't see me, I can see you.' He went to the door.

'Wait.'

Simon stopped and watched Mal sadly. 'If you're really serious, tell me again in a month, when you haven't just been stitched up.' He left.

Mal swore loudly.

* * *

Translations:  
_qingwa cào de liúmáng_ - frog-humping sumbitch 


	10. Chapter 10

AN: If you want the sex part of this chapter, its on my LJ (http/ isn't terribly explicit for sex, and its very easy to see where it goes...

* * *

'You think he turned the Captain down?' Kaylee asked in disbelief.

'I'm telling you,' Wash said, 'Simon ran out of that room like a pack of Reavers was chasing him down. He came _this close_ to knocking me down. Stopped to apologise, and say that Mal's bandages were off, and then went haring into his bunk.'

'That doesn't mean they were kissing,' Zoë protested. 'The boy's always a little jittery, the Captain maybe just yelled at him.'

'Zoë, love of my life, darling-one, are you blind?' Wash asked. 'They've been circling each other the past two weeks. And that's ignoring all that burning tension beforehand.' He grinned comically.

'They would be so shuài together,' Kaylee said, sighing.

'Didn't think you'd be so happy bout the doc getting a new rut-buddy,' Jayne said.

'Jayne!' Zoë said warningly.

'It's okay,' Kaylee said, smiling at Jayne, 'I know he don't mean nothing by it. And it's okay, me'n Simon had a talk about it before.'

'You knew!' Wash asked in horror. 'And didn't tell us?'

'It was a secret,' she explained. 'And he's so shy. But I don't get why he would say no to the Captain, I thought he wanted it so much...'

'Maybe he didn't want it that way,' Book suggested.

'What way?' Kaylee asked. Then, in horrified realisation, 'You mean just a sex-thing? The Captain wouldn't do that! It'd just be mean. Simon loves him...'

'Simon is a very...' Book paused. '...closed off young man. I don't imagine that whatever that Captain said or did was something he was expecting. I would suspect that he panicked.'

'Poor Simon...' Kaylee murmured sympathetically.

Mal walked in to the dining area. If he listened at the door much longer one of them was going to notice. And anyway "poor _Simon_"?

'Captain!' Wash exclaimed pointedly. 'We were just talking about platypus's.'

Mal glared.

'Or is it platypi?' Wash asked wonderingly. 'Come on wife, let's go find out.' Wash left hurriedly, Zoë trailing after him.

'I should go check the engine,' Kaylee said. She left, but not before throwing a sympathetic glance over her shoulder at Mal.

Jayne left, no excuse given. Book looked at Mal meaningfully, 'Anything you want to unburden yourself of, Captain?'

'I haven't sinned!' Mal exclaimed. At Book's stare, he amended, 'Not recently anyway.'

Book nodded and left, thankfully without any "special hell" lectures. Why did everyone assume he was the villain here? Or the idiot at any rate. He wasn't the one accusing other people of not knowing their own mind. Or of imprinting on the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, like he was a rutting gosling or something! "Come back to me in a month?" Did Simon think he was some kind of addiction that Mal needed twenty-eight days to come back to his senses?

Mal pondered what Book had said to Kaylee. He supposed he had surprised Simon, but shouldn't it have been a good one? He had _known_ Simon liked him, so why was it so gorram awful that he kissed him? On the other hand, Simon of course didn't know Mal liked him. Maybe he should have led off with that? That still didn't excuse the implication that Mal only liked Simon for his doctoring...

Simon slunk into the kitchen. When he saw Mal, he jumped about a foot in the air. 'Umm... good morning.'

'Morning, doc,' he answered cheerfully. Simon looked confused. Well good.

'Do you want a coffee?' Simon asked.

'Already done,' he answered. 'All better, remember? I can fend for myself. You don't need to worry anymore.'

Simon nodded, looking a little hurt, but as he turned his head to the coffee, Mal swore he heard a muttered, 'That'll be the day.'

Mal considered. He could wait a month.

* * *

It was day four. The crew had stopped acting as if he was likely to blow up, and Zoë had happily given back control of the ship. Simon was still trying to avoid him, and River looked between them mournfully, but otherwise things were back to normal. 

All excepting the fact that he was now actively making a list of Simon-things. The implication that his affection was somehow less pure than Simon's had stung. It wasn't his fault that so much of Simon's being was tied up in being a doctor or looking after his sister. The list was harder than he had thought.

River wandered in. 'You want to fuck him.'

'River! Girl, you can't go...'

'I was trying to help.'

'Well... don't! That's not something little girls...'

'Not little.'

'...Not something sisters of _any_ age say about their brothers!'

'True though.'

That was neither here nor there.

* * *

Day eleven now. Mal watched Simon from outside the infirmary. Possibly not the best time to get non-medical related insights into him, but that's where Simon spent most of his time. 

The doctor was looking at the screen in the infirmary, but Mal had no idea what he would be looking at. Could be to do with River, could be updating his charts, but there's no way of knowing without asking, which he can't do.

He was about to leave when he saw Simon rubbing at his face distractedly. Simon's full of nervous habits, but this one looks new. Mal tried to picture Simon as he's seen him recently, and this time catalogues the tiny scar above the left cheekbone. He remembered Simon's insistence that nothing had happened when Mal had thrown the scalpel at him. Mal grinned. One more entry for the list.

* * *

This was day eighteen. Mal was reverting to his eavesdropping ways, as spying on Simon alone in the infirmary was getting him nowhere. Wash and Simon were in the kitchen, both a little too drunk to be playing tall card very well, but fine with the drunken rambling. 

'All I'm saying, doc...' Wash began.

'No!' Simon complained loudly. 'See, you're doing it too! No one ever calls me by my name...' he muttered sulkily.

'You are a doctor though,' Wash pointed out reasonably. 'Unless you're not. You haven't been pulling a clever scam to steal our organs, have you?'

'No, of course not! I just... I mean I _am_ a doctor. And I'm River's brother. But I'm not... You're a pilot!'

'Yep.'

'But nobody _calls_ you that,' Simon said.

'Ah...' Wash said knowledgeably. 'Now I get you. This is about Mal.'

'It's not about Mal!'

'You think he'd call you doc when you were... you know.'

'It's not...'

'I'd be pretty bothered if Zoë called me anything like that during sex. Mostly she calls me God though, which isn't my name, but pretty nifty anyway...' Wash's babbles tailed off as his wife appeared at the other door. 'Wife!'

'Husband,' she answered dryly. 'Bed.'

'See?' Wash whispered over his shoulder.

Simon didn't, but Mal thought that he did.

* * *

On day nineteen Mal tried calling Simon by his name for the whole day. As he didn't have much reason to see him, though, it didn't seem to have much effect. Unless you counted Simon's confusion when Mal came visiting just to talk. 

On day twenty-three he saw Simon too much. They came upon a planet that had been hit by plague, and Simon, of course, had to go tend to the survivors, risking quarantine and God knows what else when the "friendly" settlers tried to hold onto the medic. Mal had stood guard for the doctor while he tended the very sick, and had glowered the entire time when Simon wasn't careful enough with mask and gloves in his hurry to help. When they had left, Simon looked up at Mal nervously and received a glare for his efforts. The look on Simon's face was resigned, as if his suspicions had been confirmed.

* * *

Twenty eight days, almost to the minute, after Simon had ran out of the infirmary, Mal walked into the dining area. Simon was sitting on the couch nursing a cup of tea, and the rest of the crew were scattered around the room. 

'Captain,' Wash called.

'Hush,' River instructed him gently. 'Happy endings can't wait.'

He walked to the couch, and crouched on the floor beside Simon, fixing him with a stare. 'You can't lie for beans. You don't like to shoot people, but you'll do it if you have to, not just for River, but for the crew on this boat. You want to fix people, not just because of you bein a doctor, but because it's right. So you want to help people even if it's dangerous or ugly or if they don't want your help. You resolved your problems with Jayne your own way. You can be a good leader when you have to. The times you get relaxed enough to joke. You're not out for attention or praise, even when you're the smartest person in the room. It's hard work making you smile, but it's worth it. You're smart and gentle and you care and that's not about you being a doctor, that's why you're a good one. You just have it the wrong way round.'

He kissed Simon again, and this time he was the one to pull away. Mal stood up.

'Twenty-eight days, doc. Either I'm cured or I'm not gonna be.'

'I...' Simon stuttered.

'Just answer the question.'

'I... I don't think you asked one.'

'Yeah I did. Yes or no?' Mal reached a hand down, and in a mirror gesture to a month and a half ago, Simon took it and let himself be pulled up and away.

In the corridor Mal looked over at Simon. 'You okay?'

Simon had regained his composure. He pulled Mal down for a kiss, deepening this one and leaving Mal sagging against the wall. Mal felt the grin against his mouth. 'You were blind for a month,' Simon teased, 'and you're closing your eyes while we do this?'

Mal opened his eyes to meet Simon's, dark with something indefinable. 'So, how d'you want to play this?'

'Bunk?' Simon asked.

'Eager to do something?' Mal asked, grinning.

'Yes,' was the simple reply.

* * *

He wakes, as he did for most of a month, because of Simon. This time though, it isn't the quiet voice that wakes him, but a hand running carefully through his hair. 'Simon.' 

Mal opened his eyes fast enough to see a look something like relief on Simon's face. After all that, the boy still thought he was about to be tossed out of bed? He kissed Simon slowly and deeply, trying to explain that he had known exactly what he was doing then, what he is doing now, and what he's going to want to do and for a good while after.

Simon apparently got the message and rolled the two of them over. He raised himself up to look down at Mal while he straddles him. 'Turn about's fair play?' he asked innocently.

Mal grinned 'And how long have _you_ been waiting to say that?'

Simon smiled and whispered against his mouth, 'Far, far too long.'

* * *

FIN. 

Translations:  
_shuài_ - handsome

Done! So thanks to all my lovely reviewers. Especially Montana, Sara and Surplus Imagination on the last batch.  
_Vampbarbie, _I'm glad you liked it even you don't normally do slash. (I read the occasional Simon/Kaylee fic myself!)

Maybe see you all again soon when we'll all have two hours more canon to play with! Runs off excitedly


End file.
